Obama Faces Uphill Struggle on Gun-Control Measures

Updated 10:55 am, Thursday, January 17, 2013

By pursuing an expansive overhaul of the nation's gun laws, Obama is wagering that public opinion has evolved enough after a string of mass shootings to force passage of politically contentious measures that Congress long has stymied.

Yet there was no indication Wednesday that the mood on Capitol Hill has changed much.

Within hours of Obama's formal policy rollout at the White House, Republicans who previously said they were open to a discussion about gun violence condemned his agenda as violating the Second Amendment's right to bear arms.

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“I'm confident there will be bipartisan opposition to his proposal,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement.

The Senate plans to begin taking up Obama's proposals next week, with the House waiting to see what the Democratic-controlled Senate passes first, congressional aides said.

The Senate is likely to take a piecemeal approach, eventually holding up-or-down votes on the individual elements of Obama's plan rather than trying to muscle through a single comprehensive bill, aides said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., stopped short of embracing Obama's proposals, calling them “thoughtful recommendations” and saying he would “consider legislation that addresses gun violence and other aspects of violence in our society early this year.”

In contrast with his role in the major policy debates during Obama's first term, Reid is likely to step back on guns, according to Senate Democratic aides.

Reid is concerned about the potential political impact on fellow Democrats representing rural or conservative states, and he believes gun control could become a significant issue for at least 10 of the 23 Democratic Senate seats up for grabs in 2014, aides said.

The White House and Democratic lawmakers believe the assault-weapons ban — a version of which passed in 1994 but expired a decade later — has the toughest odds, according to gun-control advocates in regular contact with administration officials.

Also in jeopardy, they said, is the proposal to prohibit high-capacity magazines.

But a broad consensus seems more likely to build around universal background checks, which senior administration officials said is Obama's top priority.

The gun trafficking proposal, which would impose new penalties on those who buy multiple firearms and hand them off to criminals, also could find majority support.

No Republican lawmakers attended Wednesday's White House ceremony.

The only vestige of bipartisanship came when Obama invoked former President Ronald Reagan. He noted that Reagan, “one of the staunchest defenders of the Second Amendment,” wrote to Congress in 1994 to urge support for the assault-weapons ban.

Obama acknowledged that getting his proposals through Congress “will be difficult,” making a veiled reference to powerful lobbying groups such as the National Rifle Association.

He urged Americans to put pressure on their members of Congress and “get them on record” on whether they support universal background checks on gun buyers and renewal of the bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

“And if they say no, ask them why not,” Obama said. “Ask them what's more important: Doing whatever it takes to get an 'A' grade from the gun lobby that funds their campaigns, or giving parents some peace of mind when they drop their child off to first grade?”